Product description

The real history of MI5. 'PO Box 500, London W2' - the nondescript address from behind which one of the world's most famous secret services hid: MI5. Drawing on previously secret sources, this book lifts the lid on Britain's Security Service in its battle against German and Soviet espionage. It tells the sensational stories of the officers and agents and the enemies they confronted, from MI5's creation in 1909 under the direction of Vernon Kell, Britain's first spymaster. Building on the service's wartime success, Maxwell Knight ('M'), MI5's charismatic and eccentric agent runner, penetrated Soviet and Fascist spy networks during the 1920s and 1930s. His agent, 'Miss X', was instrumental in breaking the Percy Glading spy ring run by the Soviets, while the beautiful Joan Miller and 'Miss Z' helped bring to justice Tyler Kent, who was passing information to the Axis powers.

Author information

Thomas Hennessey is Reader in History at Canterbury Christ Church University. He was an advisor to the award-winning BBC TV documentary Endgame in Ireland. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His other books include A HISTORY OF NORTHERN IRELAND, DIVIDING IRELAND: WORLD WAR ONE & PARTITION, THE EVOLUTION OF THE TROUBLES 1970-72, THE NORTHERN IRELAND PEACE PROCESS: ENDING THE TROUBLES? and THE ORIGINS OF THE TROUBLES ('A valuable study' IRISH INDEPENDENT). He lives in London & Canterbury. Claire Thomas is a historian who specialises in the early years of the Cold War. She is currently working on a history of Britain's involvement in the Korean War. She lives in Folkestone.

Review quote

'The first general history of MI5 - the definitive and comprehensive history' THES

Table of contents

Introduction: A Matter of Life and Death Chapter 1 The Army Game: Vernon Kell and the Origins of MI5 Chapter 2 Filing Systems and First Blood: 1909-1914 Chapter 3 Shot at Dawn: How a Little Lemon Juice Could Be Bad for a Spy's Health - MO5 at War 1914-15 Chapter 4 'The German Intelligence Attack On The United Kingdom': the Highpoint of German Espionage 1915 Chapter 5 Prevention and Cure: the Art of Catching Spies in War Chapter 6 The 'Hush Hush' Show: MI5 Victorious 1916-18 Chapter 7 Dual Threats: SIS and the General Strike: 1919-26 Chapter 8 Enemy Within: the Ewer Spy Ring 1924-27 Chapter 9 The ARCOS Raid Chapter 10 The Honey Trap: Miss 'X' and the Woolwich Arsenal Case Chapter 11 Friend or Foe? Fascism Home & Abroad 1934-39 Chapter 12 'Come Along For a Cocktail': The Case of John King 1939-40 Chapter 13 'I Want All My Girls to be Well-bred and Have Long Legs': Joan Miller and the Tyler Kent Case 1939-40 Chapter 14 'Are the members of the intellectual type?': the Communist Party of Great Britain and the Formation of the Grand Alliance Select Bibliography Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Index